Eighteen-year-old Charlotte (Jinx), fights her past to chase her dream of becoming an Elite Nordic Airre pilot, yet her rebellious attitude hinders her hard-earned lead status. Overcoming a string of life-altering events and the unwanted advances of a smooth talking pilot is one thing, evading death at the hands of two comrades is another.

When Jinx comes face-to-face with an unlikely ally, she is forced to trust him in order to escape the clutches of those who want to silence her. Can a once broken girl transform her past into an iron will, or will she ultimately crumble under the destruction?

Chapter One

My screaming stopped. Nightmares stole my sleep, and sweat drenched my skin. Again. I sat up, gasping for air.
Silence.
Suffocating silence.
I shoved the quilt back and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, wiping shaky hands down my damp face. I closed my eyes for a moment and pulled in a deep breath. It was a hell of a way to wake up, but I was used to it. Except this time, it was different… darker and more violent somehow.
It was in the quiet moments after my nightmares that got me when I was alone in the dark and it was impossible to pretend I had a grip on my past, on the things I could never change or erase from my memory. A few minutes later, when I couldn’t get the image out of my mind, I tried to remind myself the walls weren’t caving in on me and the boy's weight no longer trapped me beneath him. I released a frustrated sigh and rubbed a hand across my chest, snagging the chain around my neck between my fingers, nearly ripping it off.
I clasped the antique locket dangling from the necklace and brushed the cool metal between my fingers then opened it. The place where a picture should be was nothing more than a smooth stone with brown, green and hints of red. The locket was a departing gift from my mother— the woman who gave birth to me, then abandoned me. Perhaps the small token was her way of making up for abandoning me— tossing me into a home for misfits, the unwanted.
Try as I might, I couldn’t lie to myself, though. She didn’t want me. I wondered if a time would come when I would forget the inconvenient building with small windows, low rooms, dark staircases and the sadistic boy that haunted my dreams.
My gaze drifted to the alarm clock beside my bed.
“I’ve got to get out of here,” I whispered to myself.
I hurried from my bed and quietly got dressed in my riding leathers and buckled the straps on my boots. Not wanting to lose the keepsake, I unclasped the chain and placed it on my tidy dresser. Like clockwork. Routine.
Casper’s light snores echoed through the hall of our tiny apartment. My roommate had always been the careful one, the rule follower. The one who’d seen me slip in and out during curfew, never saying a word or asked questions. She kept my little secret. Therefore, I trusted her. I paused for a moment, then pulled back her door a sliver, and peered in. The moonlight leaked into the small bedroom, providing enough illumination to see her face.
Casper stirred and said softly, “You’re awake?” I could hear the disappointment in her voice.
“I couldn’t sleep,” I said, watching her push up on her elbows. “I’m sorry I woke you up.”
“Be careful. Don’t get caught, Jinx,” she said, and meant it. She knew the fine line I walked, but the blunt reminder grated my nerves. Recently, two Nordic P.I.T.’ s (Pilots in Training) went missing. It was as if the world beneath their feet opened up and swallowed them whole, disappearing without a trace. Since then, everyone was on edge. Commander DeMarco implicated stricter rules and policies on his people, enforcing harsher punishments, and our little freedoms seemed to shrivel before our eyes. Not that I ever had any. Transferred from the orphanage to the military, I was Nordic’s property indefinitely.
I looked her in the eyes, made myself smile although I wanted to scream. “I’ll see you at the base,” I replied, then left, slipping through the back sliding glass doors to the courtyard.
Sticking to the shadows, I pushed away from the safety of the wall, slinking to my motorcycle beneath the rusted carport. Sweat pooled beneath the leather riding gloves— anxiety and restlessness seeped into my bones. I slapped down the onyx shield of my helmet, started the engine, and then I flipped the head beams off so no one would see me. I gripped the handlebars like a life preserver, then twisted the throttle and took off.